Algeria: Time for Reflection

Charles de Gaulle picked up a phone and
called his chief delegate at Evian-les-Bains, white-haired Louis Joxe.
Break off the talks, he orderedat least for the moment. De Gaulle was
frankly fed up. Day after day, week after week, Algeria's rebel F.L.N.
delegation had rejected every French proposal. There would be no
special guarantees for the rights of Algeria's 1,000,000 Europeans
after independence, the rebels insisted. Nor would the French be
allowed to hang on to the vast Sahara region and its oil; the Sahara
must become an integral part of the new Algerian nation. As for
France's unilateral...